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I don't shop at Walmart and don't cross picket lines, period. I do spend more to support businesses that pay a living wage. I have done corporate business with Costco and I personally was treated poorly so I avoid them also.

I am all for collective bargaining but what some of you don't understand is that bargaining is also with the current economic times since 2 year contracts are the norm, my husband has had two 9% salary reductions in 4 years, it is the nature of collective bargaining. But yet I know many people don't know enough about unions to understand the basics, they believe that union wages are determined in a vaccum.

How many of you have actually WORKED at one? I have and I can tell you it sucks. It's sucks getting hired as full time and then only getting part time hours so they can skimp out on your benefits. It sucks being told to do the job of 2 or 3 associates and getting written up for not being able to finish because you ran out of time and can't go over your shift. It sucks that the store runs on skeleton crews 90% of the time because the store managers want to cut hours and not fill vacancies so that their quarter bonus gets bigger.

By all means continue to shop there but remember that the person helping you find your cheap good is probably on some sort of government assistance. Which Wal-Mart encourages, I've had a flyer stapled to by pay check multiple times saying I am eligible and should apply. If your company is pulling in a revenue that exceeds COUNTRIES, you can surely afford to pay your workers a decent wage that they can live on.

But I know I'm gonna get a bunch of "wah wah, who cares if dogs get treated better then you, be thankful you have a job in this economy."

I don't understand the uproar over Walmart daring to require employees, who, when hired, were told that they were required to work differing shifts, holidays, and weekends.
Where is the uproar over Walgreens and others that are open and pay similar wages?
How about all the gas station employees that have always had to work Thanksgiving and Christmas so that others can drive to visit relatives?
Or the hotel and motel employees?
The restaurant employees who are open so that those who don't want to cook or can't travel can enjoy a meal?
The theatre employees who have to work Thanksgiving and Christmas so others can enjoy a movie?

All the above employees are paid the same, or less, lack benefits, and have no choice about working holidays if they want to keep their jobs, but I don't (and never have) heard people raging about how unfair it is for them.

Exactly. The problem of consumers wanting to be able to buy stuff even on holidays goes back to at least the mid 1980s (maybe before?), when, as a teenager, I worked at a convenience store that was open on holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve/Day, Easter, etc. And guess what? Those of us who worked there had to ensure that all holidays were covered. Back then, there was no Walmart, and the malls and major grocery stores were closed; this made it that much more necessary for the convenience stores to be open. What's the problem? I knew when I applied for and accepted the job that I would have to work certain holidays. As did everyone else who worked there. If that had been a deal-breaker, I would have turned down the job and looked elsewhere.

No one who is hired at Walmart is promised he or she will have holidays off. If someone can't live with that, apply elsewhere.

As far as low wages, I have to assume that anyone who accepts a position at Walmart does so after researching/applying elsewhere in his/her area of interest and has determined that Walmart is indeed his/her best option given the circumstances of his/her life at the time. If not, Walmart is not to blame. Caveat emptor.

I have a hard time believing that small local shops can compete with Walmart when it comes to wages and benefits. And wages and benefits are absolutely crucial to survival for most of us here in America. So it's nice to say "oh, hey, don't work at evil Walmart; support your local economy by working for your local Mom and Pop hardware store", but the truth is a) if there is a local Mom and Pop anykind of store, they are unlikely to need help, b) if they do need help, it's not likely to be full time and the wages will be lower than Walmart (benefits will be non-existent), c) while you will have every holiday known to mankind off (and possibly some never heard of before), you will not get paid for any of them, and d) you will likely have no chance for promotion.

I'm just not understanding at all why it should be illegal to work at Walmart if one chooses to do so.

The issue is not "working on holidays" it is working for no benefits and getting the work done with minimal staff. How did the corporate culture be boiled down to just "working and holidays" ? Amazing how people can condense the issues...

It's sucks getting hired as full time and then only getting part time hours so they can skimp out on your benefits. It sucks being told to do the job of 2 or 3 associates and getting written up for not being able to finish because you ran out of time and can't go over your shift. It sucks that the store runs on skeleton crews 90% of the time because the store managers want to cut hours and not fill vacancies so that their quarter bonus gets bigger.

Please know that this kind of thing goes on EVERYWHERE in business. There are people all over the country with Bachelor's degrees, Master's degrees, and PhDs who are doing the jobs of 2 or 3 peers because of corporate cutbacks and they simply can't get all of the work that is expected of them done in their regular shifts. Unlike you, they have to take their laptops home every night and spend all night catching up on all the work they couldn't complete during the day, without pay (yay salary!).

My point is, Walmart employees are not special. This is the norm here in America these days. EVERYWHERE in America.

How many of you have actually WORKED at one? I have and I can tell you it sucks. It's sucks getting hired as full time and then only getting part time hours so they can skimp out on your benefits. It sucks being told to do the job of 2 or 3 associates and getting written up for not being able to finish because you ran out of time and can't go over your shift. It sucks that the store runs on skeleton crews 90% of the time because the store managers want to cut hours and not fill vacancies so that their quarter bonus gets bigger.

By all means continue to shop there but remember that the person helping you find your cheap good is probably on some sort of government assistance. Which Wal-Mart encourages, I've had a flyer stapled to by pay check multiple times saying I am eligible and should apply. If your company is pulling in a revenue that exceeds COUNTRIES, you can surely afford to pay your workers a decent wage that they can live on.

But I know I'm gonna get a bunch of "wah wah, who cares if dogs get treated better then you, be thankful you have a job in this economy."

The people I know personally who work there aren't on any public assistance. There are often more workers in my store than customers (if you go early). I don't know what part of the country you live in.

In both my job and my husband's (RN) we can be sent home if there isn't enough work/patients. Since I'm PRN I get sent home more often than most of my co workers -which is odd since they pay me less but I don't fight it. I My husband knows he can be sent home or called off (they rotate) and he can also be called in extra. He can also sign up to work extra. Many jobs can vary in that way.

Please know that this kind of thing goes on EVERYWHERE in business. There are people all over the country with Bachelor's degrees, Master's degrees, and PhDs who are doing the jobs of 2 or 3 peers because of corporate cutbacks and they simply can't get all of the work that is expected of them done in their regular shifts. Unlike you, they have to take their laptops home every night and spend all night catching up on all the work they couldn't complete during the day, without pay (yay salary!).

My point is, Walmart employees are not special. This is the norm here in America these days. EVERYWHERE in America.

Are you serious ? I work for a corporation and no we don't treat people like Walmart does. PHDs and Masters ? That is complete BS. This idea that treating people like sh@t is acceptable because other corporations do it is not okay. Yes I work every Saturday for free for my corporation but I don't make minimum wage. Walmart is the lowest of the low...

In both my job and my husband's (RN) we can be sent home if there isn't enough work/patients. Since I'm PRN I get sent home more often than most of my co workers -which is odd since they pay me less but I don't fight it. I My husband knows he can be sent home or called off (they rotate) and he can also be called in extra. He can also sign up to work extra. Many jobs can vary in that way.

another thing to be grateful for with my job. They won't ever send me home due to a quiet night.

another thing to be grateful for with my job. They won't ever send me home due to a quiet night.

DH likes his job, because he can sign up extra and therefore make extra money. Many of his co-workers don't or won't, or want to when it's convenient for them. When we want extra money for something (trip for instance) he works extra when there is extra available. He works 3 days a week but often picks up one extra day, sometimes 2. He doesn't get called off very often and when he does he has usually signed up to work extra so it balances out.

Yes, they have a SALARY, and probably make a living wage, get benefits, and get paid more than $7.25 an hour, which is the minimum wage in my state.

Give someone a steady 40 hours at that rate, like they were promised when they were hired and TOLD they were FULL TIME, meaning at least 32 hours a week, and they might be able to make it. But hire them at that rate and then cut them back to 15-20 hours so you can skimp out on giving them benefits, and it gets tough, VERY tough.

It's not the working the holidays that is pissing us off or even the varying schedule. It's the unsteady hours, the treatment, the being told to "get our asses out of the break room and back to work" when we have only been on break for 5 minutes out of the 15 we are allotted. Or refusing us to even go to our breaks, that the LAW says we have. (Though for the break situation I have already made some phone calls and something WILL be done about it, at least for me since I know how to stand up for myself)

Are you serious ? I work for a corporation and no we don't treat people like Walmart does. PHDs and Masters ? That is complete BS. This idea that treating people like sh@t is acceptable because other corporations do it is not okay. Yes I work every Saturday for free for my corporation but I don't make minimum wage. Walmart is the lowest of the low...

What about my post do you think is complete BS? I have a Master's degree, and I work with people who have Bachelor's and Master's degrees, as well as PhDs, and we ALL work all day as well as log on to complete our work together from home at night because none of us has enough time to do everything expected of us during business hours. We are regularly communicating through instant messenger until midnight or later to get things closed out on time. That's just how it is, and none of us feels like we're being treated like shit. We all just know that the job needs to get done and there aren't enough people to do it all between 9 AM and 5 PM.

I used to make minimum wage. That's because I didn't have the skills that made me worth any more than that to anyone. I was being paid what I deserved based on my skills at the time. I didn't like it, so I put out the effort to gain skills that would be worth to someone to pay me what I wanted to earn. It didn't happen overnight. But I didn't expect anyone to pay me what I wanted to earn simply because I wanted it. No one who works at Walmart HAS to work there forever. But almost anyone can get a job there as a means to learn enough to work his or her way to work towards something better in the future.

I've worked minimum wage jobs and management jobs. I signed on to the jobs knowing the requirement for shift work, week-ends, after hours, etc. Funny how the management jobs that paid much more $$$ required more hours, night call-in's, holidays (I never had 7/4, thanksgiving, & new year off, I was there for plant shut-down work) and more efforts than the minimum wage jobs.

Minimum wage jobs are not meant to be "living wages" They are transitional jobs. Increasing the minimum wage only hurts the very people that qualify for a minimum wage job. No one hires anybody unless their work makes enough cash flow to pay their the wage, taxes & benefits AND a profit. Having employees is a major pain.

Anybody that doesn't like how WM or any other business pays & treats their employees is welcome to hire.

I've worked minimum wage jobs and management jobs. I signed on to the jobs knowing the requirement for shift work, week-ends, after hours, etc. Funny how the management jobs that paid much more $$$ required more hours, night call-in's, holidays (I never had 7/4, thanksgiving, & new year off, I was there for plant shut-down work) and more efforts than the minimum wage jobs.

Minimum wage jobs are not meant to be "living wages" They are transitional jobs. Increasing the minimum wage only hurts the very people that qualify for a minimum wage job. No one hires anybody unless their work makes enough cash flow to pay their the wage, taxes & benefits AND a profit. Having employees is a major pain.

Anybody that doesn't like how WM or any other business pays & treats their employees is welcome to hire.

Thank you. You've done a much better job than I did stating the message I have been trying to get across.

And you have not addressed your previous post.......but hey as long as someone else can say something.........

I'm not sure what you don't understand but I'd love to have the opportunity to clear it up for you; please feel free to get in touch with me by private message. Since no one but you seems confused, I think it makes the most sense to take this offline.